Finding Nemo

HELP FIND OUR CLASSMATES
There are 349 classmates in our database and we have successfully contacted (and gotten responses from) 114 of them: not bad. But that leaves 235 classmates whose contact information we either don’t have or who have not responded to our outreach. (As of Dec. 8, 2021.)

UPDATE: 157 found as of April 28, 2022 – including Jeff L.!

Help us find the missing classmates! Go to the “Classmates” page of this website and scan the list for people whose current email address you have. Send to: centennial50thclassof72@gmail.com
Use your imagination:

• If you have someone’s phone number, call or text to get their email address.
• If you have their postal address, send a postcard and ask for the email address.
• If you simply have an idea for a lead (your cousin was good friends with person X in high school), check in with your cousin.

If all of us reach out and find two “missing” people, we’ll be done with our work in no time!

OUR CLASS DATABASE
One challenge in preparing for a reunion involves getting the word out. The Class of ’72 already had a terrific database of contact information – addresses, phone numbers, email addresses – when planning for the 50th reunion began in earnest in January, 2020. The groundwork was laid by these (and certainly other) dedicated volunteers:

• 20th reunion: Jodie Bokenkamp, Michele Casteel, Kathy Curtin, Dan Doolen, Jeri Fisher, Brad Hamilton, Terry Klitzing, Mark MacLeod, Jay Miller, Donna Pittman, Marc Shaw, Steve Whitsitt.
• 40th reunion: Dave Barr, Jim Berger, Joan Campo, Michele Casteel, Gayla Fiedler, Steve Johnson, Mark MacLeod, Jane Ogden, Donna Pittman, Jeanne Tuley, Steve Whitsitt.
• 45th reunion: Dave Barr, Gayla Fiedler, Brian Johnson, Jane Ogden, Jeanne Tuley.

OUTREACH ATTEMPTS – SO FAR!
This is just an overview of the efforts the reunion team has made in the last two years – and still we have only found 1/3 of the classmates. That is why we need your help.

• January 2020: an appeal for contact information goes out to the Class of ’72 Facebook Group.
• Summer 2020 – Summer 2021: Dave Barr finds email addresses for dozens of classmates using the commercial person-finder website, Nuwber.
• August 2021: Dave Barr, Noel Grove, Marc Shaw, and Steve Whitsitt make phone calls to 47 classmates, yielding about 10 email addresses.
• Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2021: Sarah Glenn sends “Save the Date” messages to 228 email addresses; 30 people immediately respond (others gradually), but 73 messages bounce back.
• October 2021: Paul Wingstrom sends individual FB messages to about 50 classmates in the Class of ’72 Facebook Group requesting their email addresses.
• October/November 2021: Nancy Curran, Jeanne Powell, and Jodie Bokenkamp telephone over 70 classmates yielding 21 email addresses.
• Nov. 29, 2021: Sarah Glenn sends 79 follow-up “Save the Date” messages to classmates who didn’t respond to the first one (and whose emails didn’t bounce).
• April 2022: Jay Miller confirms postal addresses of classmates who are Urbana residents
• May 13, 2022: 188 postcard “Save the Dates” sent to classmates whose postal addresses were on hand, but no correct email addresses.
• Sept. 2021 to the present: These classmates (and others) have provided additional information as they locate it: Jeff Alsop, Dave Barr, Marcia Bebout, Rob Campbell, Nancy Curran, Richard Gifford, Janet Metcalf, Jane Ogden, Donna Pittman, Jeanne Powell, Bill Smith, Jacquie Summers, Jeanne Tuley, and Vicki Westfall.